The ruling confirmed that next year’s annualisation arrangements for all school support staff will begin on 1 February 2017.

The judgment was made after NZEI Te Riu Roa sought to bring the first payment of the year forward to 18 January 2017 for their members.

Mr Sheppard, head of the Ministry’s education infrastructure service, says he welcomes the Employment Court judgment.

“February 1 is in line with the current collective agreement, and will provide certainty for school support staff next year,” he says.

“We really value the important work school support staff do. This judgment will allow them to be able to continue to focus on that work, supporting students with their learning.”

There will be a pay period in January 2017 in which staff in NZEI whose pay is annualised will not receive a payment.

This is the situation the Ministry was trying to avoid, and why annualised payments were initially structured across 27 pay periods for the 2016/17 year.

All support staff will still be paid what they are entitled to over the course of a year.

Enquiries to: media@education.govt.nz

Schools have done a great job responding to the challenges brought about by this morning’s earthquake, Acting Secretary for Education Katrina Casey said today.

“The majority of principals were in early checking their schools and contacting their parent communities. These earthquakes have been a really big event for many across large parts of the country, particularly those in North Canterbury, Marlborough and Nelson and Wellington,” Ms Casey said.

“Schools offered support to others in their communities including the use of facilities, particularly as examination centres. For example, Marsden Collegiate in Karori, offered schools to use some of its examination rooms.” In all, 276 of the 524 school in the affected areas of Canterbury, Nelson/Marlborough and Wellington were closed today.

“We advised schools to close this morning so that buildings could be inspected. Thankfully, most of the damage has been minimal which means most will be open tomorrow. “We have asked structural engineers to assess schools with more obvious damage, to ensure they are safe “Secondary schools have been our top priority because their students are sitting NCEA exams. We’ve not been advised of any significant structural damage in Wellington, Canterbury or Nelson, so most schools that were closed in these areas today are expected to be open tomorrow, subject to final checks.

“That includes most secondary schools and area schools. As far as exams themselves are concerned NZQA informs us that where schools are open, exams will be going ahead. “Where schools are closed, or if students sit an exam and believe their performance has been affected by the earthquakes, students can apply for a derived grade. “Looking ahead, we do need to do some final engineering checks at a small number of secondary schools but we expect the majority will be open. We would encourage parents who are unsure about the status of their school to contact the school and check their Facebook page.

“There is one area we haven’t been able to get a good picture and that’s Kaikoura because roads in and out of the town are blocked. There are 6 schools in this area and Police advised they were all closed today. We expect to know more about that status of those schools soon. “We would encourage parents who are unsure about the status of their school to contact the school and check their Facebook page. “Scientists tell us there will be more aftershocks. So if any school or ECE service becomes concerned about further damage as a result of afterschocks, they can get in touch with us.”

Ms Casey added, “Finally, I would like to thank the principal of Cardinal McKeefry School for generously hosting the Ministry of Education’s emergency response team throughout the morning, also Samuel Marsden Collegiate for hosting Wellington Regional Office staff.”

The Ministry has a continued focus on increasing participation in quality early childhood education (ECE), particularly for Maori, Pasifika children, and children from lower socio economic backgrounds.

The Targeted Assistance for Participation (TAP) fund supports this focus by establishing new child places in high priority areas. TAP provides start-up funding and incentives to create new child places in communities where they are most needed.

In 2016/17 there are two streams of TAP funding available:

• TAP 2 – A partial funding stream that provides incentives (such as part funding for the establishment of new child places) and partnership opportunities in a wide range of high priority areas. Registrations of Interest (ROI) for the TAP 2016/17 partial funding stream opened on 11 November 2016 on the Government Electronic Tender Service (GETS).
• TAP 3 – A low-cost, high-value funding stream that establishes new child places in a broad range of priority areas that have pockets of low participation. For further information about TAP 3 funding, please contact your  regional Ministry of Education Office.

How much funding is being invested through the TAP fund?

In the 2016/17 year, $11.226 million will be invested through the TAP fund to support participation in high priority areas.

How are priority areas selected for TAP funding?

TAP funding is targeted towards areas with the largest numbers of non-participating children.

Priority areas identified as having the greatest need for TAP funding are selected annually by the Ministry, based on where we stand to have the biggest impact on ECE participation by creating new child places.

Who is eligible for TAP funding?

Funding is available to groups that can meet the needs of target communities in priority areas identified by the Ministry of Education within the parameters of the TAP programmes.

For further information about TAP funding, including eligibility, please contact your regional Ministry of Education Office.

TAP 2 2016/17 Partial Funding National Priority CAU List

Auckland

Mangere cluster

• Mangere South
• Harania West
• Harania East
• Harania North
• Viscount

Manurewa cluster

• Homai East
• Clendon South
• Leabank
• Rowandale
• Weymouth East

Otara cluster

• Rongomai
• Ferguson

Mount Wellington

• Mount Wellington South

Bay of Plenty/Rotorua/Taupo

Western Heights

TAP 3 2016/17 Low-cost, High-value Funding Regional Priority

For further information on TAP 3 funding, please contact your regional Ministry of Education Office.

“Local families and school staff are going through a really tough time. We are grateful to find most of the schools have come through relatively well. Each school will decide when to reopen, but some may be in a position to open later next week,” says Ms Casey.

“Two of our staff flew in yesterday in Defence helicopters, along with two consultant structural engineers. We’ve inspected all six schools and found they are generally in good shape. Those schools are Kaikoura Primary School, St Joseph’s School, Kaikoura High School, Kaikoura Suburban School, Hapuku School and Lynton Downs School. They should be safe to use again once power, sewage and water supply issues are addressed. Approximately 470 students attend schools in Kaikoura.

“A generator is being sourced for Kaikoura Suburban School while we co-ordinate with the local marae and other agencies to provide other support to the school community. “We are working with the schools in Kaikoura to enable them to reopen as soon as possible.

“Our director of education for Canterbury, Coralanne Child has visited schools in the Hurunui District to see what support they may need. Of the 13 schools, all but Waiau School are open. Waiau School is currently being used for emergency accommodation and as a Civil Defence base and plans are in place for it to be open on Monday.

“We understand staff and students may still be feeling the adverse effects of the earthquake and the aftershocks, so we remain ready to provide advice and support wherever we can.”

This process of extensive sector engagement reached a consensus that the current funding system was not doing enough to raise the achievement of all our children and young people, especially those most at risk of underachievement, that the current system was too complex to understand, and that the decile funding system was unfairly stigmatising many schools, regardless of their educational success.

These meetings, along with those held by an Advisory Group comprising sector representatives, agreed that it was appropriate to continue working on a number of proposals for change.

Following this feedback, the Minister of Education took a paper to Cabinet seeking agreement to progress a number of the proposed funding system changes to the next stage of further policy design and testing. These proposals are designed to:

• Determine what’s needed to achieve, and then deliver, a year’s learning progress for all learners, in every year of their education
• Look at funding each child in early childhood education, rather than the placed-based approach we have now
• Explore the best ways to target funding for disadvantage to learners most at risk of underachievement. This will be based on a risk index which is calculated from government agencies’ data
• Test better approaches for learning support to students with additional physical, intellectual, or behavioural learning needs
• Define the criteria for small and isolated schools and early childhood services and considering the role Communities of Learning| Kāhui Ako can play in mitigating the impacts of size and isolation
• Look into changing the arrangements for property maintenance and utilities, to give greater assurance that school property is appropriately maintained and to secure greater efficiencies in utilities expenditure
• Strengthen the line of sight between the investment Government makes in education with the outcomes achieved by children and young people.

As a first step, a number of topic-specific technical reference groups will be established to support the more detailed design of these proposals. People on these groups will have expertise and experience in curriculum design and delivery and in the measurement of educational progress, as well as wider sector and educational expertise.

The groups include ones on:

• Curriculum-based progress – to advise on what it takes for children and young people to achieve a year’s worth of progress across the curriculum and input in to the move to child based funding in early learning
• Dealing with disadvantage – to input on the best ways to target funding for learners most at risk of underachievement
• Small and Isolated – to test the approach to defining small and isolated early childhood services and schools, as well as how Communities of Learning| Kāhui Ako can mitigate the impacts of school size and isolation
• Property – to input on how property maintenance funding could be more efficiently spent to meet the interests of students and staff.
• Using data to improve outcomes: strengthening the line of sight between the investment the government makes in education with the outcomes achieved by children and young people.

To assist with the policy design and testing of these change proposals, the former Advisory Group on the review has been upgraded to a Ministerial Advisory Group. The Group will meet regularly with the Minister to discuss the work of the reference groups and the proposed new funding components.

In addition, work will be progressed by the Ministry to determine how best to fund schools and Communities of Learning|Kāhui Ako to support learners needing additional learning support, and to determine a new funding formula to support independent schools. The latter work will commence following the completion of the technical working groups.

The proposed changes aim to ensure that every child and young person is given the opportunity to make at least a year’s worth of progress against the curriculum. We want to ensure that the $11 billion per year being invested in education achieves maximum impact in raising achievement for all learners, and that our funding systems support diversity of choice for all parents and their kids via a variety of schooling options.

No decisions on any changes have been made and there will be further opportunity for sector and public involvement on the proposed changes before the implementation of any new funding components in 2020

Find out more about the next stage of our review of funding system.

“School leadership that works’ is the latest report from the Education Review Office (ERO). It highlights, for school leaders, as well as school communities, what highly effective school leadership looks like.

The report highlights what might be called the ‘6 habits of highly effective school leadership.’

These 6 habits include:

1. Setting goals and targets to raise achievement to promote equity and excellence, and to actively involve parents and caregivers to raise achievement
2. Supporting and promoting student wellbeing
3. Regular planning and evaluating of teaching practice to ensure that the school is meeting the learning needs of all students
4. Aligning student learning needs, with the professional learning and development of teaching staff
5. Using evidence, evaluation and inquiry regularly to monitor student achievement and to improve teaching practice
6. Building strong relationships with other educational and community institutions to increase opportunities for student learning and student success.

The Ministry of Education, along with the Education Council and the NZ School Trustees Association (NZSTA), are working together to help more schools to develop highly effective leadership practices that work for all schools, students , and school communities.

For example, proposed changes to the Education Act will make raising achievement the most important focus for our education leaders. The Ministry is also building more collaboration between schools around leadership and teaching, in our Communities of Learning | Kāhui Ako programme. And the Education Council is developing more effective leadership programmes for our education services and schools.

ERO’s ‘School Leadership that works’ shows the great things our best school leaders and teachers are already doing to raise student progress, wellbeing and achievement. It is a useful guide to recognising what good school leadership looks like. We hope it is widely read in our school communities.

ERO’s “School Leadership That Works” report is on the ERO website.

The pilot was announced by Education Minister Hekia Parata today at the Special Education Principals Association New Zealand conference in Wellington, as part of a progress update on the Learning Support (formerly Special Education) Update.

The pilot involves a new service delivery model that will provide for a single point of access to liaise with families and schools, through an 0800 number, email or online tool, and help them get the support they need promptly.

“When we consulted families and schools in Waiariki-Bay of Plenty last year on their experiences they told us the current system for learning support was too complex to navigate. We want to make the services easier to access,” Mr Schuster says.

“The pilot will also include local learning support teams to triage services. Learning support plans will be developed in collaboration with schools and families and a Lead Practitioner will be assigned to each child accessing learning support for the first time to ensure support plans are delivered and reviewed. 

“Waiariki-Bay of Plenty Communities of Learning have identified learning support as a focus to help them address existing achievement challenges.  This will include better collaboration between schools,” Mr Schuster says.

“About 80% of the region’s schools are now in Communities of Learning and this will make it much easier for schools to work together to ensure children get the right services.  It will also make it easier to ensure that when children move schools, their development plans move with them.

“The Ministry will work with the Communities of Learning, the sector and stakeholders to develop the changes and pilot the new approach in the Waiariki-Bay of Plenty region from the start of the 2017 school year.”

The pilot will test, measure and evaluate the changes to inform national implementation decisions later next year.

Media contact: media@education.govt.nz

As part of the Learning Support Update, we plan to roll out a new service model that will include:

• A single point of access for parents, whānau, schools and local communities
• Local Learning Support teams
• A Lead Practitioner
• The collection of individual student data related to learning support and achievement.

At the same time, we, in consultation with the Ministries of Health and Social Development, will look at the Ongoing Resource Scheme (ORS), Communications Services and Behavioral Services to improve their flexibility and efficiency.

We won’t reduce funding for ORS, Communications Services or Behavioural Services but look for ways to address current issues. 

Around 1,300 schools or 60% of schools have pools. Those that don’t have pools can use community or council swimming pools. These can provide a safer swimming environment, better year-round facilities and more trained instructors.

We provide all schools with swimming pools additional funding as part of their annual property maintenance grant. Schools may also use their capital funding (5YA) to maintain the essential infrastructure of the pool. Schools without a pool can use their operations grant to help take students to a nearby swimming pool. Boards of trustees are responsible for delivering the curriculum and decide how funding is spent at their school.

We encourage schools without pools to collaborate with local community groups and councils, or each other. In some cases, schools have worked in partnership with local community groups and councils to co-own facilities and redevelop existing pools. We believe this approach provides better value for money both locally and nationally and leads to a better use of existing facilities.

School boards make their own decisions about closing pools, whether temporarily or permanently, and they don’t have to tell us that a pool has closed. We don't hold specific information about swimming pools which have closed in the past.

Jerome Sheppard, Head of Education Infrastructure Service.

TIMSS is an international comparative study of student achievement. It is conducted by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), an independent international co-operative of national research institutions and government agencies. Fifty-five countries participated in TIMSS 2015.

Dr Craig Jones, Deputy Secretary of Evidence, Data and Knowedge at the Ministry of Education said the results were a credit to students, parents, teachers and schools.

Year 5 science students were the stand-out achievers for taking their score from 497 to 506 in the study.

TIMSS shows that all other average scores increased from the previous cycle but the changes were not large enough to rule out chance variation. Year 9 girls markedly improved their scores, while Year 5 and Year 9 maths students scored 491 and 493 respectively. This result sits comfortably above the intermediate international benchmark of 475.

The report highlights that there is still more work to do to lift the achievement levels of Maori and Pasifika students who are still, on average, not as strong as their classmates.

“The gap between our top performers and our lowest is still too wide,” Dr Jones said.
Next year we are targeting operational funding to students most at risk of educational underachievement as part of our investment to address this gap.

TIMSS also reinforced the confident and positive attitude many children have towards schooling. Ninety per cent of Year 5 students reported they feel positive about school, teachers and their classmates. This was in-light of 60 per cent of those same students reporting that they had experienced some form of bullying behaviour monthly or more.

While bullying remains a major problem for our schools to address, there has been a lot of work on this issue since TIMSS conducted its survey in 2014. For example, new guidelines on cyberbullying have been made available to all schools, while the Harmful Digital Communications Act also came into force in 2015.

In 2017 the cross-sector Bullying Prevention Advisory Group will release a Bullying-free New Zealand School Toolkit, following on from its 2016 launch of a new bullying prevention website for schools and their communities, www.bullyingfree.nz.

The value of participating in TIMSS is that it shows us areas where we're doing well and areas where we need to improve. This helps everyone across the system to put in place the things that will lift student achievement, Dr Jones said.

Read the TIMSS report:
TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study) 2014/15 | Education Counts

The Minister of Education today announced that a further 32 Communities of Learning | Kāhui Ako have been formed, taking to 180 the number operating throughout the country.

Communities of Learning | Kāhui Ako are funded through the Government’s $359 million Investing in Educational Success initiative which is aimed at lifting student achievement as well as offering new career opportunities for teachers and principals.

Communities of Learning | Kāhui Ako are about systematic collaboration between teachers, schools and others to benefit learners.

The latest group includes 40 early childhood education services and Ngā Kōhanga reo, 3 tertiary providers or campuses and 233 schools.

Of the Communities of Learning | Kāhui Ako that have already been established, 46 have had their achievement challenges endorsed and more than 50 have appointed principals to the new leadership role.

A new Communities of Learning | Kāhui Ako tool has also been launched today so that people can find Communities of Learning | Kāhui Ako in their area and find out more about them.

This new tool profiles each Community of Learning | Kāhui Ako and has useful information such as, achievement and engagement data.

The resources comprise 100 dual-language flip books, audio and online resources in five Pasifika languages – Samoan, Tongan, Tokelauan, Cook Islands Māori and Niuean – and English, as well as supporting materials for teachers and parents.

They are designed to build on the strengths of Pasifika learners’ existing language skills to support the development of their English language and literacy skills and their transition to English medium schools.

We know that some Pasifika children make less-than-expected success in reading and writing in their first years of school, but we also know that drawing on all of a child’s cultural capital, especially their literacy and language capital, can support their English literacy development.

Prior to the release of the Pasifika dual language resources, a selection of them were piloted in seven South Auckland schools by a team of Auckland University academics led by Dr Rae Si’ilata.

The pilot found that students’ achievement, confidence and self esteem increased in English language and literacy after six months at school, by using and building on the strengths of their first language, while teachers reported gaining valuable insights into how to further develop their literacy and language teaching skills and practices.

Parent fono trials were also held in clusters of Auckland schools, led by Pasifika languages consultant Patisepa Tuafuti.
These trials have received high praise from schools, parents and students who responded enthusiastically to being able to share and learn new ideas about language and literacy in a culturally responsive way.

The development of these resources was a shared project between the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Pacific Peoples, the University of Auckland and the Pasifika community.

The Pasifika dual language resources can be ordered free of charge from the Ministry’s Down the Back of the Chair catalogue and online from the Ministry’s Te Kete Ipurangi (TKI) web platform.

New Zealand student performance was relatively consistent up to 2009. While we remained above the OECD average in maths, science and reading between 2009 and 2012 performance declined. The latest results show we’ve halted that trend and stabilised.

PISA, which looks at the achievement of 15 year olds, shows New Zealand has broken into the top ten rankings for reading against the 69 other countries in the study. New Zealand is 10^th for reading achievement – up from 13^th in 2012. New Zealand has also overtaken other countries in science with a ranking change from 18^th to 12^th and in maths from 23^rd to 21^st. 

Dr. Craig Jones, Deputy Secretary for Evidence, Data and Knowledge at the Ministry of Education welcomed the improvement in New Zealand’s country rankings shown in the latest PISA results.

“Our science and reading students have consolidated their place in the OECD rankings above students from advanced economies and education systems like Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States, France and Switzerland,” Dr Jones says. “PISA results are an indicator of the overall performance of our education system, along with other international studies such as the recently reported TIMSS study in science and maths achievement.”

The average scores of the 15 year old students, tested in 2015, sit comfortably above the OECD average in all 3 subjects.

New Zealand scored: 513 in science while the average across countries was 493, 509 in reading compared to an international average of 493, and 495 in maths compared to an international average of 490.

“New Zealand has one of the highest proportions of top achievers across reading, maths and science. 6% of our students were in this category compared with an OECD average of 4%.

Furthermore, 20% of all students assessed are among the top performers in at least one of these subjects. This is better that the OECD average of 15%.

There is still more to do for certain groups of students however. We need to improve achievement rates for Māori and Pasifika students. Socio-economic status is a higher predictor of achievement than for many other countries, but the 2015 results show it plays less of a role than previously, which is a positive trend. 

The PISA findings give us part of the picture, but they are only a snapshot. We know that students in that same year group attained record high pass rates for NCEA Level 1 across all ethnicities last year,” Dr Jones says.

Our 15 year olds are also solid performers when it comes to the different areas of science that are assessed in PISA – physical systems, living systems and earth science. 

PISA tells us that more New Zealand students at this age are enjoying learning science than many of their OECD peers. This is showing a positive effect on their achievement.  

Similar to the Trends in International Science and Maths Study (TIMSS) released last week, PISA highlights that there is still more work to do to lift the achievement levels of Māori and Pasifika students who still, on average, have lower rates of achievement than other ethnic groups.

“Both the TIMSS and PISA data will provide us with plenty of additional insight into the strengths and weaknesses of New Zealand education. This will help inform our policy development going forward as we look at how to support our students further in succeeding in their educational endeavours,” Dr Jones says.

We are undertaking a series of initiatives already announced by the Minister. These include:

• The targeting of operational funding to students most at risk of educational underachievement.
• Communities of Learning | Kahui Ako are focused on learner-centred pathways, so all students can benefit from the best teaching practice and school leadership we have.
• Another initiative that’s showing a lot of promise for the future of maths and science achievement is Curious Minds. This is a joint programme with the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment to increase school engagement in science, technology, engineering and maths (known as STEM).
• Curious Minds is encouraging more girls into STEM subjects, enabling students to learn directly from technology intensive businesses in their community, linking science to Māori language, culture and identity, and funding projects that give students STEM learning opportunities.

The South Australia/New Zealand Principal Exchange programme offers principals an exciting opportunity to experience leading a school in a different country. Applications close on 27 February 2017.

Find out more about applying for the exchange.

Two placements are available, one for a primary principal and one for a secondary principal. For one term, New Zealand principals will exchange schools with a principal of a South Australian school that has a similar roll to their own school.

The exchange allows successful applicants to build on their leadership experience and bring back new ideas and skills.

The exchange programme was established jointly with the South Australian Department for Education and Child Development.

The first exchange took place in Term 3 this year and saw Steve Berezowski from Te Wharau School in Gisborne swap schools with Tracey Davies from Richmond Primary School in Adelaide.

Read about Mr Berezowski’s experience on the exchange earlier this year.

The 100 available scholarships are a great opportunity for graduates wanting to become secondary teachers in the sciences, technology or maths (STM) subjects.

Science, technology and maths can lead graduates along exciting career pathways where they get to work in the field of study they have an interest in everyday.

These subjects are in high demand and we want to attract top graduates who can pass on their passion for these subjects to our secondary school students.

Working in science, technology or maths gives you the potential to help shape the world, and starting your STM career in teaching gives you the opportunity to help shape minds.

Applications for 2017 STM Scholarships close on 7 February 2017. Start your STM career by sharing your passion with young learners, apply today.

Awarded annually in honour of the 28th (Māori) Battalion, the scholarships exemplify excellence in education as well as service and commitment to the community.

The eight winners were announced today by the Minister of Education, who chairs the Ngārimu VC and 28th (Māori) Battalion Memorial Scholarship Fund Board.

Since 1948, the Board has supported Māori achievers to succeed in education and to contribute as leaders both at home and overseas.

Among the winners are a former teacher who is now aspiring to become a documentary filmmaker specialising in kaupapa Māori and the arts; a Stanford University student of environmental law and policy; and a business student who was a New Zealand representative at the White House Tribal Leaders Gathering hosted by President Obama.

The scholarships recognise the exciting futures the eight exceptional winners have.

They have already demonstrated what other young Māori can achieve with hard work and dedication and I look forward to seeing what more they can achieve.

The 3 winners of the master’s scholarship will receive $15,000 per year for up to 2 years. The 5 undergraduate scholarship winners will receive $10,000 per year for up to five years.

All winners of the 2016/17 Ngārimu VC and 28th (Māori) Battalion Memorial Scholarships will be recognised at an awards ceremony in April 2017.

Further information

Winners of the 2016/17 Ngārimu VC and 28th (Māori) Battalion Memorial Scholarships 

“Land at 225 Alabama Road, Riverlands, has been identified as the most promising option for a new home for the two colleges,” says Jerome Sheppard, head of the Ministry of Education’s Education Infrastructure Service.

“It is a large site, and   further work will be done to identify what part of the site will work best for the schools. We will also carry out engineering investigations to confirm which areas are most suitable for building on.

“It’s important to stress that this is not a done deal yet. If for any reason the purchase does not proceed, we have several other options.

“Cabinet has approved up to $63m for this project, which will equip the two schools with state of the art buildings and technology. The two colleges have already started planning how they can bring each of their educational visions to life in a new co-located setting.  

“The local community made it clear during public consultation that they believed placing the two colleges on one site, or near each other, would offer the best educational opportunities for local teenagers.

“Both schools are part of the Marlborough Community of Learning with other local schools. Having a shared campus will support the co-operation between these two colleges and the wider group of schools and help them tackle shared achievement challenges,” says Mr Sheppard.

An evaluation has just been released of the Prime Minister’s Youth Mental Health Project, which has invested around $64 million over 4 years in supporting young people aged 12 to 19 years with, or at risk of, mild to moderate mental health problems.
 
The Ministry of Health coordinated the multi-agency project which involved a number of initiatives led by the Ministry of Education. 
 
More information is available on the Ministry of Health website. 

Bill Barker says the school will be informing its community of the good news and then they can ‘get on with it’.

“It’s very exciting,” he says. “I’m absolutely elated that it has been announced.”

The project will see ageing facilities replaced and will also set the school up to accommodate future roll growth.

The investment will deliver 14 new teaching spaces, including 6 roll growth and 8 replacement classrooms, as well as new library and administration facilities and a multipurpose hall.

Mr Barker says an innovative learning environment will be created, featuring flexible learning spaces that support a range of teaching and learning approaches.

“We have already been working with our staff on the innovative learning pedagogy,” he says. “The teachers are excited and really looking forward to working in the studios and collaborating with one another.”

One of the main benefits of the environments for the students will be them having access to 4 teachers, Mr Barker says.

“Children will be able to draw on the skills and the passions that 4 teachers bring into the studio. That’s really important.

“Something else that’s very exciting is the focus on research and personalised learning.

“The freedom the environments provide is also great. In an innovative learning environment children can choose to work in an area that suits their learning at that point in time.”

Mr Barker says the school has never had a hall where everybody can meet together on site.

“To have a facility on site where we can meet and greet and celebrate children’s learning is going to have a huge impact.”

Site constraints mean the new buildings will be 2 and 3 storeys, to ensure valuable outdoor space can be retained.

Early site works will be carried out over the summer holidays. Construction is expected to begin in April 2017, and be completed by January 2019.

This announcement means over $268 million worth of school redevelopments have been announced or have commenced in Auckland over the past 6 months.

Find out more about some of these projects:

• Waiheke High School
• Bayswater School
• Western Springs College
• Freemans Bay School
• Papatoetoe Central School
• The Gardens School
• Southern Cross Campus

The Minister of Education last week announced that Northland School, Churton Park School and Brooklyn School would be redeveloped at a total cost of $17.5 million.

The Ministry’s Head of Education Infrastructure Service Jerome Sheppard says $8 million will be invested in the redevelopment of Northland School, where an old teaching block will be replaced and 2 additional classrooms built to help meet roll growth.

At Churton Park School $6 million will be invested replacing 6 classrooms and the library.

Another $3.5 million will be invested in Brooklyn School, where 5 teaching spaces will be replaced and the administration block repaired. Funding will also be provided to extend the multipurpose hall.

The investment in these 3 schools means more than $116 million has been allocated to school redevelopments in the Wellington area over the last 14 months.

Wellington schools that have had redevelopments announced include Aotea College, Wellington East Girls’ College, Thorndon School, Newtown School, Kelburn Normal School, Khandallah School and Ngaio School.

Mr Sheppard says the investments are about providing learners with modern, effective and inspiring learning environments.

“Once complete these schools will have fantastic new facilities that will really support the learning needs of students,” he says.

“Providing the right physical environment is an important aspect of education and we strive to provide learners with flexible spaces which make the most of innovative technologies.”

It has also been announced this year that more than $6 million would be invested in 20 extra classrooms across the greater Wellington and Kapiti regions, to help accommodate roll growth.